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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24361297">Of a Feather</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vagrant_Blvrd/pseuds/Vagrant_Blvrd'>Vagrant_Blvrd</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Kings of Nowhere [71]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Battle Buddies, Alternate Universe - Shapeshifters, Alternate Universe - Spies &amp; Secret Agents, Battle Buddies (Achievement Hunter), M/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 10:07:06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,940</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24361297</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vagrant_Blvrd/pseuds/Vagrant_Blvrd</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Jeremy’s been in Los Santos for over a week by now and he still can’t pinpoint what it is about the city that sets it apart from anywhere else he’s been.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Jeremy Dooley/Ryan Haywood</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Kings of Nowhere [71]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/789789</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>69</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Of a Feather</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Anon asked for Battle Buddies based on the <a href="https://roosterteeth.com/watch/let-s-play-gta-v-2020-jackbag-4-20">We Become Animals! - GTA V: Peyote Update</a> video and, uh. This happened? :D?</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jeremy’s been in Los Santos for over a week by now and he still can’t pinpoint what it is about the city that sets it apart from anywhere else he’s been.</p>
<p>The usual sights and sounds that come with any heavily populated city, all glitz and glimmer and shine. Loud and bustling and the kind of organized chaos that humans thrive in. </p>
<p>“It stinks here,” he mutters, because it does.</p>
<p>Something deeper, older than the pollution from traffic and industrial business that takes place here. Older than any of that, coiled around the city’s heart and seeping into everything like poisoned well water.</p>
<p>Gets at Jeremy’s hind-brain, persistent itch he can’t scratch kind of thing. Annoying as hell and he’s glad they aren’t planning to stick around once they’re done here.</p>
<p>An old contact of Ryan’s that’s got him worried and leave saved up they should be enjoying somewhere else than one of the most crime-ridden cities in the country. (Hell, maybe more than one.)</p>
<p>Ryan’s ear twitches, and Jeremy shrugs when the asshole gives him a <i>look</i>.</p>
<p>“What? You don’t like it here any better than I do.”</p>
<p>That gets a soft snort from Ryan, like he wasn’t just bitching about their current accommodations the other night. Restless and cranky and still carrying the weight from their last mission.</p>
<p>Literally.</p>
<p>Jeremy bites back a smirk when Ryan has a little...difficulty hopping off the crappy little love seat shoved against the wall of their motel room. Can handle the difference when he’s on two legs even though he’s not happy about it, but he still hasn’t gotten the hang of it on four.</p>
<p>And fair enough, since their last mission didn’t call for the two of them to tap into their unique talents, but still.</p>
<p>“Looking good,” he says, and laughs when he gets a rough growl in return.</p>
<p>Probably shouldn’t pick on Ryan so much, but it’s been pointed out more than once that Jeremy’s kind of an asshole.</p>
<p>And anyway, anyway, not his fault Ryan had such a close resemblance to one of their last target’s contacts, is it? Ryan was the one with the bright idea to put on weight to close the gap on that, allow him to get close enough to their target without them realizing until it was too late. </p>
<p>Stupid as hell, really, and luckier than they should have been that it worked. Combination of their target and Ryan’s look-alike never meeting in person until then, and honestly, Jeremy’s still surprised it worked given their luck.</p>
<p>Still.</p>
<p>“I mean it!” Jeremy calls, because Ryan’s been shedding the extra weight at a steady clip, should be back to his regular weight by the end of the month. </p>
<p>Another annoyed growl as Ryan grabs the laptop case and trots over to him with it, ears pinned back and okay, okay, maybe he has been needling Ryan more than usual. Feeling prickly himself being in this shithole of a city and maybe (definitely) taking it out on Ryan even though he’d insisted on coming along.</p>
<p>“Hey,” Jeremy says, because there’s being an asshole and then there’s being an asshole. “Sorry.”</p>
<p>Ryan drops the laptop case on the floor at Jeremy’s feet and cocks his head.</p>
<p>And, look.</p>
<p>Jeremy’s not the best with words, not really. </p>
<p>He’s not book-smart like Ryan, about as far from being called refined as you can get, but he’s not a complete disaster. Good enough that the agency thought partnering him with someone like Ryan was a good idea, and the number of successful missions they’ve got under their belts is proof enough they were right.</p>
<p>So.</p>
<p>“There’s just something about this place, you know?”</p>
<p>They’ve been in worse places than this, worse situations, but something about Los Santos just...Jeremy doesn’t even know, is the thing.</p>
<p>If it’s affecting Ryan he hasn’t let on, but Ryan’s just like that sometimes.</p>
<p>Jeremy doesn’t know if it’s to do with what he is, some genetic thing or if Ryan’s just. Christ, he’s not what Jeremy would call easy-going because he really isn’t, but.</p>
<p>There’s something in Ryan that adores chaos, thrives in a way Jeremy doesn’t fully understand after working with him for so long.</p>
<p>Ryan’s ears prick up. Can’t exactly talk like this, but Jeremy’s gotten good at reading him. Which, you know, doesn’t mean Jeremy can tell the asshole why Los Santos bothers him as much as it does any better.</p>
<p>“Don’t worry about it,” he says, and pulls out Ryan’s laptop. Files and whatnot on it Ryan’s put together for him while he does some reconnaissance. “You know I’m a professional.”</p>
<p>Ryan stares at him for a long moment as Jeremy pretends not to notice. Stomps down on a smile as Ryan shakes his head and makes this odd little chuffing noise that’s as close as he can come to laughter when he’s like this, because it’s an old joke between them by now.</p>
<p>Complete professionals until they aren’t, and the bane of the agency when it happens.</p>
<p>“Shut up,” Jeremy mutters, and shoves him away with a foot. “Go do your thing while I educate myself.”</p>
<p>It might draw too much notice if a (slightly) overweight rottweiler just trotted out of their motel room to wander about. A bathroom window overlooking a very scenic alley, however, not as problematic for their purposes. </p>
<p>========</p>
<p>Probably, anyway.</p>
<p>========</p>
<p>By the time Ryan gets back, Jeremy’s gone over the files Ryan gave him several times over.</p>
<p>Most of them pulled from his personal files, although there are a few from their agency (that really shouldn’t, but it’s their little secret) to give Jeremy a better idea of why they’re here.</p>
<p>Knows more about this contact of his than he did coming into things. Former operative for another shady little agency like theirs who quit not too long ago. (Such a quaint way to put it, really, considering that agency no long exists, but there it is.)</p>
<p>Secrets to him that Ryan and Jeremy know all too well. Restlessness that landed him here of all places.</p>
<p>Came to Los Santos like a lot of people do, hoping to get lost in the hustle and bustle of a city like that. Live his life however the hell he could and some odd kind of happily ever after to his story - </p>
<p>Or there would have been, if the real world worked like that.</p>
<p>All kinds of enemies people like them make, even when they do their jobs right. (No one to tell the tale if no one’s left <i>to</i> tell it, as Ryan likes to say.)</p>
<p>Odd sort of friendship that formed after running into one another and so on, and someone Ryan <i>trusted</i>.</p>
<p>And then this old contact, friend, of Ryan’s gets himself into trouble and here they are.</p>
<p>Ryan intending to go it alone until Jeremy made it clear that <i>haha, no, that’s not how this partnership of theirs works</i>. Didn’t matter if this problem if Ryan’s wasn’t work-related because again, not how this partnership of theirs works.</p>
<p>And now?</p>
<p>Ryan’s in the bathroom, usual assortment of noises of him shifting from four feet to two reaching Jeremy.  A few moments where he can hear a pained groan because it’s not easy, simple, and then the sound of Ryan dressing.</p>
<p>Jeremy stares at the laptop screen and sighs.</p>
<p>The two of them should be on a sandy beach somewhere enjoying well-earned time off, but life doesn’t go the way you expect.</p>
<p>You either learn to roll with it or get dragged under the wheels, or...something like that. </p>
<p>“You get anything useful?” Jeremy asks, when he hears the bathroom door open.</p>
<p>A petty little crime lord, Ryan’s old contact, and a city that sets Jeremy’s nerves on edge.</p>
<p>Not a great combination when he thinks about it. </p>
<p>Ryan pads out of the bathroom on near silent feet and takes a seat next to Jeremy on the edge of the bed. </p>
<p>Smells tired, worn out, as he leans against him. Makes this soft little noise in the back of his throat.</p>
<p>“Lot of guards,” he says, voice rough, hoarse. “Tall walls around the compound.”</p>
<p>More details that he offers up in small pieces because words are harder after a shift like his, hard to put together to form sentences.</p>
<p>Paints a picture of a heavily guarded compound in the hills overlooking the city. Wooded area, preserve behind it, and not a good idea to storm the place like the idiots they are.</p>
<p>“Subtle approach?” Jeremy asks, and that’s another old joke between them too, isn’t it. </p>
<p>Ryan makes another wordless sound, and Jeremy glances at the window that looks out onto the motel parking lot.</p>
<p>Sunset was a couple of hours ago, moon hanging heavy in the sky.</p>
<p>He can feel something prowling the edges of his mind, wild and restless and eager to explore somewhere new.</p>
<p>“Subtle approach,” Ryan agrees, teeth to it. “Definitely the subtle approach.”</p>
<p>========</p>
<p>Ryan’s a big bastard on two feet or four, and when they were first partnered together Jeremy could tell he didn’t even think about it anymore.</p>
<p>Was used to the way the world was for him, and not thrilled at being stuck with some wet behind the ears asshole fresh out of training. </p>
<p>Obvious enough from the start Ryan wasn’t a fan of working with a rookie like him, used that size and everything else he was to try and scare him off.</p>
<p>Didn’t take into account what Jeremy was, assumed like all the others it wouldn’t be a factor.</p>
<p>And yet?</p>
<p>“Be <i>careful</i>,” Ryan says, far too human at the moment and fussy as hell.</p>
<p>Two feet instead of four because this is how it works out when they use the subtle approach.</p>
<p>Ryan smells worried, as though it isn’t clear enough in the way he’s watching Jeremy. Hands restless as hell as he fidgets with his favorite knife, crouched in the brush outside the compound and armed to the teeth although he won’t be using them tonight if everything goes as planned.</p>
<p>Ryan out here fucking around with the compound’s security system while Jeremy goes hunting.</p>
<p>Jeremy butts his head against Ryan’s chest, laughing a little as it rocks him back on his heels, gets an exasperated huff out of him in spite of himself.</p>
<p>Jeremy <i>knows</i>, alright. </p>
<p>He knows.</p>
<p>Dangerous and risky and Ryan’s lost too many over the years to be careless about things like this. (For himself? Absolutely. Anyone else he’s allowed close? Never.)</p>
<p>But he’s not the wet behind the ears rookie the agency saddled Ryan way way back when, and when it comes down to it he has more experience running around on four legs than Ryan. Knows exactly what he can do with fang and claws better than Ryan knows his weapons.</p>
<p>This?</p>
<p>Easy as breathing, and Ryan knows that, too.</p>
<p>Doesn’t stop him from grabbing Jeremy’s face and locking eyes with him, from a simple, quiet, “Don’t be stupid,” the way he does when they’re on their own and the odds are stacked against them.</p>
<p>Every bad mission they somehow managed to limp away from and the memories that followed them home.</p>
<p>Jeremy chirps, and pushes forward until Ryan lets go, rubs his face against Ryan’s cheek because they’re both stupid, aren’t they? The worst kind of stupid, but somehow they make it work for them.</p>
<p>Another little chirp and then Jeremy’s moving, a slow trot that turns into a full-out sprint and then he’s laughing himself at the compound wall, claws out as he hits, digging in enough to help him scramble up and over. Branch of a tree that should have been trimmed weeks ago close enough to leap onto, and from there - </p>
<p>Easy as breathing.</p>
<p>None of the guards think to look up, more focused on patrol routes and bickering about the outcome of a sports match the night before. Putting too much trust in their cameras and state of the art security system Ryan’s patched into.</p>
<p>He makes his way through the trees ringing the courtyard and drops to a low roof near the pool. Creeps along easy as you please until he finds the balcony attached to the master bedroom.</p>
<p>Massive affair, potted trees and climbing vines screening it from view making it easier for him to go unnoticed.</p>
<p>Ryan’s intel is spot on, because the asshole behind all of this is nowhere to be seen. A meeting or other bit of business and not expected back anytime soon.</p>
<p>Jeremy’s lips peeling back as he spots a beautiful bird cage resting on a pedestal.</p>
<p>Gorgeous thing made of gold with intricate filigree work, worth a fortune and housing a sleek black crow.</p>
<p>A crow that’s watching him with keen eyes, unruffled at the sight of a mountain lion mere feet away from it.</p>
<p>And that - </p>
<p>Jeremy paces closer, circles the pedestal and the cage resting on top of it.</p>
<p>Nothing out of place there, unusual. Seems Ryan was right about this little warlord being too goddamned confident no one would dare something like this.</p>
<p>Just a cage on a pedestal.</p>
<p>The shift is different for everyone, hurts like hell for some, barely noticeable for others. Burns like fire in the blood or shocks like being plunged into a winter lake.</p>
<p>Jeremy’s asked Ryan what it’s like for him before, and never gotten a straight answer.</p>
<p>Aimless rambling about the science of it – tissue and muscle and bone reforming in ways they were never meant to thanks to genetics or a bad stroke of luck. (Magic, although Ryan gets this look to him when Jeremy points that out, annoyed at how so-called magic fucks with all known laws of science.)</p>
<p>For Jeremy it’s - </p>
<p>It hurts, his body breaking apart and piecing itself back together. Burns cold, ice and frost and numb.</p>
<p>When he stands on two feet, the crow’s watching him with interest. Clacks its beak as he walks towards the cage.</p>
<p>“Ryan sent me,” Jeremy says, watching the way the crow blinks at that.</p>
<p>Shifts its feet, delicate chime filling the air as it does drawing Jeremy’s attention to the thin gold chain attached to one of its legs. </p>
<p>“Oh,” Jeremy says, growl building in his chest as his voice stays steady. “That’s nice.”</p>
<p>Lovely, even.</p>
<p>The crow lets out a low noise, head turning towards a low table set just beside the balcony doors and the small key that gleams under the moonlight on it.</p>
<p>Jeremy takes his cue, moving on silent feet as he retrieves the key, the crow watching him the whole time. Continues to watch him as he undoes the latch to the cage’s door and reaches in to unlock the chain that slithers to rest on the cage floor.</p>
<p>“There you go,” he says, and pulls the cage door open as he steps back.</p>
<p>The crow is still watching him, far too much intelligence there for an ordinary crow. (Ryan’s old contact and the kind of secrets to him Ryan and Jeremy know all too well.)</p>
<p>Rare, but not unheard of, and dangerous as hell if the wrong people find out.</p>
<p>Different, strange, and they all know how people react to that sort of thing.</p>
<p>One of the guards patrolling the compound yells, Ryan’s handiwork finally being noticed and Jeremy can’t help the laugh that follows as chaos breaks out.</p>
<p>The crow shakes its – his – head again, and gives Jeremy a look before it takes flight. Unnoticed by the guards because they don’t think to look up.</p>
<p>========</p>
<p>It’s rougher getting out of the compound than it was getting in, but Jeremy was expecting that.</p>
<p>(Ryan and his luck and plans that never work out, because few ever do.)</p>
<p>He’s back on four feet again, and <i>fast</i>.</p>
<p>Far more agile than he is on two feet, and fangs and claws and apex predator all the way. (Nothing bigger, deadlier than him here at the moment and it shows.)</p>
<p>There are a few lucky guards, if you want to call them that who manage to get a shot off at him before he’s on them. A graze here, a crease there, nothing enough to slow him down as he makes his way out of the compound.</p>
<p>Ryan makes a low noise of displeasure when he sees Jeremy, but there’s no time to dwell on any of it as they speed off in their getaway car. Fancy little SUV borrowed from a fancy little neighborhood that wouldn’t be missed for hours yet.</p>
<p>Big enough to accommodate their gear, guest, and one over-size mountain lion in the backseat in case a quick getaway was needed, which. To be honest, almost always is with them.</p>
<p>“Your driving hasn’t improved,” someone says, British accent and badly hidden laughter as Ryan swerves to avoid a slow-moving car. </p>
<p>Ryan grumbles, almost a growl, but there’s no anger to it. More like resignation and something close to fondness and Jeremy looks at the man in the passenger seat.</p>
<p>Wrapped in a blanket from their motel room and looking tired, wan, but gleam of intelligence and humor in his eyes as he meets Jeremy’s eyes in the rear-view mirror.</p>
<p>“Shut up,” Ryan snaps, but again there’s no anger to it. </p>
<p>They’re being chased, because of course they are.</p>
<p>Ryan’s old contact is safe, but there’s still that petty little crime lord to deal with, isn’t there.</p>
<p>Still.</p>
<p>Jeremy settles back and listens to Ryan and his old contact bicker, banter. Realizes this is going to be far more interesting than kicking back on a sandy beach somewhere as far as things go and is perfectly fine with that.</p>
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